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The Bank of England's chief economist said the central bank should focus on tempering inflation rather than stabilising the pound or boosting wider economic activity, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Huw Pill called monetary policy a ‘blunt instrument’ and is not something that can be used to control various things in the short term, including stabilising the ‘exchange rate’ or fine-tuning ‘developments in employment or activity’.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/boes-pill-says-he-sees-further-rate-rises-ahead-2022-06-21/
Pill's comments come a day after Catherine Mann said the BoE should lift interest rates in chunkier instalments as a flailing pound is heaping more inflationary pressure on the UK.
Mann was one of three members of the BoE's nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee to vote for a 50 basis point rate increase at last week's meeting.
In the end, the BoE voted to raise the Bank Rate by a quarter-point to 1.25%.
Pill had backed a 25 basis point hike.
Rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve has heaped pressure on the pound. Sterling fetched $1.2276 on Tuesday afternoon in London, down sharply from around $1.35 at the start of the year.
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